Why it works: Mutton and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,488 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Mutton Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Start the broth
Toast half of the bread until rich brown.
Crumble the other half and add it to the cold water with the mutton.
Simmer and strain
Boil gently until reduced to 1½ pints.
Strain the broth and remove the fat when cold, if desired.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,488 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- Provides the main meaty flavor, and its connective tissue softens into gelatin that gives body.
- Bread
- Toasting adds browned, toasty flavor, and crumbled bread adds starch that thickens the broth slightly.
The step that matters
Boil gently until reduced. Vigorous boiling breaks fat and proteins into the liquid, making the broth cloudy and greasy. A gentle simmer keeps it clear while collagen from the mutton slowly dissolves into rich gelatin.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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